A Song of Odd Moments: Christmas
by Farky-fark and the Munky Bunch
Summary: It's Christmas Eve and Karmen, against her better judgment, is once again the hostess for a holiday party. Only, this time, there are a few surprises... Sequel to A Song of Odd Moments: Thanksgiving. Set in the same year.


**A/N: **My most sincere apologies for not having this out on Christmas day. I did not have access to a computer as I thought I would, so was unable to post until now. Anyway, this is the sequel to ASoOM (A Song of Odd Moments): Thanksgiving, with all of the same characters plus one OC created by **crusades. **Many thanks to my beta reader (and sister) **StarscreamII**,I hope you enjoy reading, and reviews are appreciated.

**Disclaimer: **Transformers itself belongs to Hasbro, the Odd Moments universe belongs to **Demyrie**, and A Song of Ice and Fire belongs to George R. R. Martin.

* * *

"Soundwave, be careful!"

The ladder beneath him swayed precariously and Drogo steadied it as he walked past, earning an embarrassed blush and a shakily signed, '_Thank you,' _from the man currently attempting to hang a sprig of mistletoe in the kitchen entryway.

His sister hurried over to make sure he was okay before frowning up at the plant in his hand. "Put it up a little higher. We don't want Sandor getting accosted by it every time he walks through the doorway."

The Scotsman laughed from where he was sprawled on the nearby couch and looked backwards at the siblings. "I don't need mistletoe, thank you. I can be affectionate without it." He moved to kiss his girlfriend, but was forcefully pushed back down as she shot him a look and continued collecting popcorn for the strings on the Christmas tree with the hand that wasn't splayed across his chest.

Soundwave successfully hung the Christmas tradition from the doorway with Karmen's assistance then handed the ladder off to his twin nephews as they came barreling through the living room toward the currently unguarded popcorn tin.

_'Put this in the garage.'_

"But, Boss—"

_'Now.'_

As they ran out, Karmen yelled after them, "When you're finished, go get the rest of the decorations from the attic!"

After a brief pause, a semi-whined reply could be heard. "Yes, Ma..."

Vibes chuckled and walked over to stand beside her boyfriend. "Nice move. Is there anything else I can help with before Shock gets here?"

Soundwave sighed and ran a hand back through his unruly blue hair. _'See if Sansa or Karmen needs anything. I'll help Drogo with the lights.'_

She nodded and headed for the couch, pushing Sandor's feet out of the way before sitting down and reaching into the caramel popcorn section. "Need any help?"

Sansa sighed heavily and chewed on her bottom lip, absentmindedly slapping her boyfriend's thigh when his hand crept toward the popcorn. Or her skirt. She wasn't entirely sure which.

"Well, if you wouldn't mind tying Sandor's hands together, that would help a lot actually."

The realization of what she'd said came a second too late as Sandor grinned and shot her a suggestive look. "I like it a whole hell of a lot better when you tie me up."

Sansa looked about ready to strangle him with a chain of popcorn, so Vibes got up and left, hiding her laughter behind a handful of the caramel coated snack.

"Need anything, Karmen?"

Their hostess turned in her direction and nodded. "Yes, actually. Run and find Rumble and Frenzy. They're supposed to be checking the attic for any more decorations and I'd feel better if you were there to supervise."

Vibes gave her a thumbs-up and jogged out in that direction, leaving Karmen to stand squinting at her surroundings.

"Dany...do you have the star over there?"

Daenerys looked up from the boxes of ornaments around her and nodded. "Yeah. I can't reach the top of the tree, but it's over on that chair."

Karmen spotted it and looked toward the only guest who was, at the moment, being particularly unhelpful. "Sandor. Get up and put the star on the tree please."

"Alright." He nudged Sansa off of his legs with a "scootch," and swung his feet onto the carpeted floor, retrieving the desired object on his way to the tall pine in the corner of the room. As he settled it in its proper spot and stood back to admire his work, Karmen plopped down on the couch beside Sansa and exhaled heavily.

"I'm really sorry that you guys had to help with this. I usually have the house decorated _way _before now, but I've just been so busy, and..."

"No need to explain. It's perfectly fine. Our apartment isn't decorated yet, but that's because Sandor just throws boxes of stuff all over the place, so I can never find anything, and if I do, there's no room to put it anywhere."

"Hey, I put a tree up in our bedroom!" he shot back defensively as he helped Dany put the rest of the ornaments on the top branches of the tree.

"Yes, but it's barely a foot tall. That doesn't count."

Karmen smiled and took the completed popcorn string from Sansa, winding it around the tree as Soundwave and Drogo reentered the living room from outside.

"Lights are up!" the latter announced cheerfully, his deep tan skin tinged slightly pink from the cold. As his blue-haired friend stood shivering beside him in a coat and heavy sweats, he wore only a black t-shirt and a pair of jeans with a fuzzy Santa hat sitting slightly crooked atop his head.

_'And there was a car pulling into the driveway.' _Soundwave turned to Sandor, but directed his signing to Sansa. _'The bike parked by the curb...?'_ After a quick translation, Sandor nodded and started restacking the now empty ornament boxes.

"Yeah, that's Stranger." Sansa had yet to understand why he'd named his motorcycle, but Soundwave agreed whole-heartedly with the concept.

"Then I guess Shockwave is here." Vibes said as she quickly caught herself up on the conversation and walked in with the twins in tow. "And Karmen, the only boxes up there that had anything in them weren't decorations. I think we've got it all."

Karmen nodded and headed off toward the hallway, calling back over her shoulder. "Somebody make sure to let him in when he gets to the porch!"

Seeing as all the boxes had been cleared away and the last of the decorations had been set up and arranged properly, everyone found a seat and waited for the knock at the door. When it came, Soundwave, Sansa, Dany and the twins all got up and, after an awkward moment of indecision as to who should open the door, Soundwave tugged it open and stared out in confusion; allowing Bradbury to dart inside with a meow that drew Ravage out from under the couch.

Shockwave was standing there in his usual cool atmosphere of British detachment, but beside him stood a tiny African American woman with short black hair that none of them had ever seen before. The most disturbing thing was the fact that they were holding hands.

_'_..._hello...'_

The woman smiled and offered a hand to shake, earning a slight blush from the man in front of her. "Hi. I'm Electra, Shockwave's girlfriend. You must be Soundwave."

There was a moment of dumbfounded silence that was broken by Sandor. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that? I think you lost us all at 'Shockwave's girlfriend'..."

Electra laughed and nodded. "Yeah, I get that a lot. Sorry he didn't tell you I was coming. It was sort of a last minute decision on my part. I hope you can handle one more person."

Sansa nudged a still confused Soundwave out of the doorway and ushered them in. "That's perfectly alright. I'm sure you'll be more than welcome. Come on in and make yourselves comfortable. Karmen'll be back in just a minute."

Sandor glanced over at Vibes and raised his eyebrow, nodding toward the Englishman and his girlfriend. "How did _that _happen?"

Vibes shrugged and looked at the young woman that was politely engaging Electra in casual conversation. "I could ask the same about you and Sansa."

"Ah. That's simple, actually. I worked for her boyfriend, Joffrey. By the time she realized that he was a psychopathic son of a bitch, I was the only one there to protect her when he decided she'd look better with a few new bruises. As soon as he dumped her for someone he deemed more worthy of his 'love', she flew to London to find me and I f—" He spotted the twins within earshot and reconsidered his train of thought. "Nevermind. You get the picture."

Vibes cringed and followed Electra's progress across the room toward them. "Yeah...a little too clearly."

"So...you must be Sandor."

He looked up at Shockwave's girlfriend and raised his eyebrow. "What gave it away? No, wait, don't tell me. The burns, right?"

"I've heard a lot about you from Shocks."

Sandor laughed. "Only bad things I hope. Anything else would be a lie."

Electra raised her eyebrows and smiled in amusement. "Well we are talking about Shockwave. They were...marginally good."

Vibes snorted and Shockwave cast an unamused look in Electra's direction from where he stood answering the questions being thrown at him by the twins. The most recent was, "I know it's Christmas, but...why the antlers?"

Sandor was all too aware of her curious stare directed at the left side of his face and he scowled. "Fire started in my bedroom when I was seven." He chose to ignore the look Sansa gave him.

Electra nodded and politely averted her gaze to officially introduce herself to Vibes and Drogo as Karmen reemerged from the hallway with a pile of gifts balanced precariously in her arms. Her arrival distracted the twins from their revelation that Shockwave was no longer just a pirate, but a perfectly festive reindeer pirate.

"Ma, Mr. Shockwave has a girlfriend!"

Karmen lost control of one of the presents and stared helplessly as it tumbled to the ground, turning her gaze to the newest arrival when it settled down at Drogo's feet. "Oh...how...nice. Frenzy, could you help me with these, please?"

The redheaded twelve-year-old bounded over to assist his mother.

"I apologize for not informing you of Electra's attendance beforehand," Shockwave clarified. "The decision was made rather late and I had no time to contact you."

"Oh, that's fine," Karmen said distractedly, taking the gifts that the guests had brought and adding them to the growing pile beside the tree. "You don't need my permission to bring her. She's just as welcome as anyone else."

Something about her tone of voice made Soundwave sincerely doubt the validity of her statement.

"No, really," Electra insisted, handing over her own contribution to the stack. "I'm sorry about the short notice, and not actually being invited, but thank you for being so kind about it. I just really wanted to meet all of Shockwave's friends, and I thought this would be a great opportunity since you're all here."

"They're acquaintances," Shockwave corrected drily, tracking the cats' movement as they wandered around and sniffed various items strewn around the floor.

"Hey!" Frenzy protested upon the realization that what Shockwave had said wasn't quite a compliment. He was quickly distracted however by a plea from his twin.

"Ma...can we do the gifts _now_?"

Karmen sighed and fixed a stray lock of his purple hair. "I suppose so...go ahead and get everything set up while I get drinks, alright?"

"Alright!" Both of the twins went racing for the pile of white elephant gifts as all the adults got themselves into a circle and the cats ran to get away from the flailing twelve-year-olds.

"Sansa," Karmen called out from the kitchen. "Could you come help me for a minute?"

Working her way out from the arms wrapped around her waist, she stood up and politely excused herself to the kitchen. Sandor watched her go then leaned forward when she made it out of earshot.

"Alright guys, here's the deal. See that big, white, badly wrapped box...?"

Karmen loudly closed one of the cabinets in the kitchen then opened the fridge and peered inside. "Do you know if anyone likes eggnog?"

Sansa filled the two smallest mugs with hot chocolate and glanced over toward the other woman. "Depends. Is it the alcoholic kind?"

"It can be."

"Liberally add whatever you have and Sandor'll drink it. If you don't have anything, he brought a bottle of bourbon. I think Dany likes it without. Just bring out the coffee carafe and the carton of eggnog with the rest of the mugs and they can all serve themselves. We'll be distracted by the gift exchange anyway."

"Yeah...could you mix Sandor's drink while I take these out there?"

Karmen took a tray with cups and mugs out into the living room and shot a look at the Scotsman when she saw everyone sitting around in a circle and talking quietly amongst themselves. He nodded.

Sansa joined them a minute later, handing the twins their hot cocoa and Sandor his drink before sitting down and getting comfortable in his lap.

Vibes looked around the circle then reached for the carton of eggnog, filling a mug and reaching across the circle for Sandor's bottle of alcohol. "Alright. Electra, since you're the new one here, why don't you start?"

Electra nodded and looked carefully at the pile of gifts before selecting an artfully wrapped one from the bottom. "Here goes..." Ripping open the packaging, she smiled and pulled out a small stuffed white elephant. "Aww...it's cute. I'm naming him Claude."

Sansa smiled and leaned her head back against Sandor's shoulder. "It's always been a tradition in my family for someone to actually give a white elephant so I figured I should continue that. One year, Robb, Bran, and Rickon all brought one and they each ended up getting one of the other's."

The others laughed and Electra set the elephant down beside her. "Nobody's going to steal Claude, alright?" She shot a look through narrowed eyes at Vibes and Dany then looked toward her boyfriend for good measure.

"I assure you that that should not be a concern." Shockwave said wryly. "I generally prefer things that are less..." he paused for a moment then settled for, "fluffy."

The laughter broke out again and Electra patted Shockwave's knee. "Alright, Shocks. Whatever you say. You know you want him, but go ahead and go; it's your turn."

The blond Englishman frowned at the obvious amusement of his "acquaintances" then examined the presents carefully before selecting a light green one from the middle and glancing around the circle to see if anyone reacted to his choice. The only movement anywhere was from Vibes in the subtle gesture of reaching over to hold Soundwave's hand.

Carefully removing the wrapping paper, Shockwave took the lid off the box beneath it and looked inside, his eyebrows lifting slightly at what he found.

"What is it?" Rumble asked, not looking at the selected box as he fished the candy cane out of his hot chocolate with his fingers and received a chastisement from his mother that he decided to ignore.

"A...Snuggie..."

The twins exchanged a look before busting out laughing as Electra smiled.

"Claude's looking pretty good now, ain't he, Shocks?"

Shockwave ignored her and pulled the Snuggie out of the box. Rumble and Frenzy doubled over onto the carpet, almost in tears, at everyone's reaction when it was held up by the stoic Englishman.

"What the bloody hell...?"

_'My thoughts exactly,' _Soundwave signed, an obviously disturbed look on his face.

"I believe I am correct in the postulation that this came from the two of you." Shockwave looked over at the twins as they gasped for breath. Rumble nodded and struggled back into a sitting position.

"We didn't think _you_ would get it, though!"

Electra leaned over and whispered something in her boyfriend's ear, earning a slight eyebrow raise. Karmen pretended not to notice as she smirked and Shockwave glanced back at the Snuggie with a calculating expression.

"Alright, Sounders," Vibes nudged him with her elbow. "Your turn."

Their quiet blue-haired friend looked at all the boxes before carefully pulling a small rectangular one out from under the others. Dany snickered.

Peeling off the brown wrapping paper, Soundwave opened it and stared suspiciously at what he found. _'Is that...'_

"Fruitcake? Yes. My future mother-in-law made it."

Drogo groaned. "Oh, no. Not my mother's fruitcake."

Dany nodded and laughed at Soundwave's vaguely green complexion. "You can throw it out if you want to. It was cluttering up the fridge and I thought it would make a good white elephant gift."

_'Because nobody would want it?'_

"Exactly."

Soundwave shook his head and set the fruitcake down between he and Vibes, before touching her shoulder to signify that it was her turn.

His girlfriend looked down then picked up the supposedly repulsive loaf of bread. "I'm stealing this. I want to try it."

"You _really_ don't," Drogo assured her, to which Sandor added, "Believe me, it's fu—Ow! Watch your damn elbows, woman!" but she took it regardless.

"Will you brave it with me, Karmen?"

Soundwave's older sister looked at it then slowly shook her head. "No thanks...But, that means Soundwave has to pick another."

He sighed and just grabbed the one closest to him, ripping off the paper and pulling out a Ziploc bag filled with hotel soaps, shampoos, and conditioners.

_'Well, this is better.' _Sadly, despite the fact that they couldn't really tell with signing, the others had a feeling he wasn't being sarcastic.

"Those are mine," Karmen said with an apologetic shrug. "They were the only thing I could find when I got around to choosing something."

_'That's fine. I'll use them.'_

He packed the bag back inside the box and set it aside, pointing toward his nephews.

"I hope we get yours, Boss!" Frenzy said, consulting with his brother before pulling out one of the packages.

_'No, you really don't.'_

Rumble shook the box then frowned. "I can't tell what it is."

"Well open it then, goof." Karmen said, ruffling her son's purple hair.

He ducked away and passed the box to his twin in order to 'fix' his hair. Frenzy opened it and gasped in excitement when he saw what was inside. "I've always wanted to try this!"

When he withdrew a can of Spam, there was a wave of laughter and a few grimaces from the people who _had_ in fact tried it before.

"That was mine," Drogo said, then raised his eyebrows. "Funny story about it actually..."

"Did you just ask a random person in Wal-Mart to pick an aisle again like you did with the..." Sandor glanced over at the twins then finished with, "...last gift you brought to one of these."

Sansa blushed and ignored the look he cast down at her.

Drogo snorted and shook his head, the bells in his hair tinkling softly when he moved. "No. That can of Spam was sitting in the basement of our house when Dany and I bought it, and we actually knew the people who owned it before us, and they said it was from the family that lived there before _them_, so if I had to guess, I'd say it's roughly eighteen years old. And if it lives up to its reputation, it probably still hasn't expired."

There was a brief moment of silence as everyone thought about what eighteen-year-old Spam might be like, but it was broken by a cry from Rumble. "That's awesome!" He immediately reached for the tab on the top to pull it open.

Karmen looked at her sons and shook her head. "No. You are _not _eating that. Absolutely not."

"I'd listen to your mom," Electra recommended. "Spam is best avoided even when it hasn't been sitting in a basement for an unknown amount of time."

The twins acquiesced with minimal grumbling, but Karmen was visibly not pleased with their choice to listen to Electra over her. Her fuming was cut short however when the twins reminded her that it was her turn to choose and she reached for the box closest to her. Upon opening the gift, she revealed one of the most hideous Christmas sweaters any of them had ever seen, and Shockwave was the one to speak up.

"I received that at a Christmas party at work several years ago."

Soundwave frowned. The very idea of Megatron hosting any sort of office party was perplexing, but one where an ugly sweater would be given to Shockwave…Perhaps he'd had a previous occupation.

"Well, it's...certainly...interesting." Karmen said slowly, trying her best to be polite to the attractive Englishman.

"You should probably apologize, Shocks," Electra said with a smile. "Poor Karmen agrees to have us all over on Christmas Eve, and you repay her kindness with..._that_..."

"It was not intended for anyone in particular, though I wouldn't have complained if Clegane was the one to get it."

Sandor snorted. "Thanks, Shockwave...tell me, honestly, was the day I left Oxford the best day of your life?"

Shockwave looked over at him and shrugged slightly. "One of the better ones. Although, I did prefer you to the man who replaced you as my roommate."

Sandor scowled. "You were better than mine too."

Electra looked over at the younger man and raised her eyebrows. "Why did you go from London to Detroit?"

Sansa answered before her boyfriend could say anything. "I was here." Sandor just nodded and murmured something quietly in her ear before kissing the top of her head.

Dany looked over at her friends and gave Sansa a small smile before reaching over and taking the sweater from Karmen. "I'll take this off your hands. Consider it my Christmas gift to you."

Karmen laughed. "Thank you. Let's just hope I don't get something even worse."

"I'm not sure if that's possible," Electra said with a laugh.

"Well, let's hope you're right." Karmen chose one of the last four boxes and opened it up, frowning in confusion at what was inside. "Umm..."

Vibes chuckled and looked over at her boyfriend's sister. "That would be a broken shoulder rest for my violin. Soundwave forgot to mention the fact that we were having a white elephant gift exchange until this morning, so I had to grab something on short notice. I hope you can find a better use for it than I did."

Any disappointment Karmen may have had was eliminated considering the gift had come from Vibes and she glanced over at Frenzy and Rumble. "Well, I forgot to pick up coal this year, so maybe they'll find this in one of their stockings tomorrow morning..."

"Aww, ma!"

"That's not fair!"

Karmen smiled and tweaked Frenzy's nose. "Then make sure you're good tonight."

"The same goes for you, sweetheart," Sansa said quietly, earning laughs from everyone and a snort from Sandor.

"When am I ever good?"

She ran her hand along his thigh and tilted her head back to look at him. "Exactly."

Drogo shot a look over at his friend and received a devilish grin in return that earned a snicker from Vibes, an unreadable expression from Shockwave, and blushes from both Sansa and Soundwave.

"Alright, well..." Drogo looked toward Shockwave and sighed. "I'd like to take that from you."

The Englishman raised his eyebrows. "This?" He lifted the Snuggie and Frenzy and Rumble started laughing again when Drogo nodded.

"Yeah. Merry Christmas. Now none of us have to deal with the thought of you in it."

Electra trailed a finger along her boyfriend's arm and smirked. "I was actually thinking about how it would look on his bedroom floor...I happened to like it there."

Soundwave turned bright red and excused himself to go get more water.

"Is he always that easily embarrassed?" Electra asked as he left, to which Vibes nodded.

"It's rare if you ever see him not blushing. He's usually fairly alright until we all get together and then things get exponentially worse. Mainly because of him." She pointed toward Sandor who looked back at her above the top of the bottle of bourbon in his hands. "If he so much as looks at Sansa, Soundwave blushes. Probably because it's a little too easy to read his mind sometimes." Sandor shrugged unapologetically and didn't bother to argue.

"Isn't that the case with most men?" Electra said with a smirk. All four of the other women nodded in agreement and Electra laughed. "I never would've guessed that you were all so interesting from the things Shocks has told me about you."

"And what is it exactly that he's told you about us?" Karmen asked with a slight edge to her voice.

"Not much, to be honest." The younger woman replied. "We'll have to talk sometime so you can fill in the blanks."

"Yes, we should. I'm sure we'd have _lots_ to talk about…"

Shockwave subtly shifted the conversation away from the suddenly tense atmosphere between Karmen and Electra by reaching for a new gift just as Soundwave walked back in. When he nearly choked on his water at the sight of the gift in his colleague's hand, Shockwave narrowed his eyes.

"Would this be yours?"

Soundwave just nodded and sat back down beside his girlfriend, signing something to her that she laughed at and whispered a response to which sounded suspiciously like, "I don't think he brought his gun."

Removing the paper, a CD was revealed and Shockwave turned it around to look at the title. A look that was the closest thing to surprise that any of the others had seen from him spread across his features.

"What is it?" Drogo asked, leaning forward to try and see the back of the case.

"Who's it by?" Frenzy added, looking toward his uncle. Soundwave just shook his head and weakly signed, _'Don't ask.'_

Shockwave didn't answer either question, but looked up at Soundwave. "Where did you acquire this particular album?"

_'Garage sale. It was free, and I didn't look at the case until I got home because I was already running late for work, so...'_

Electra looked over her boyfriend's shoulder than did a double-take before giving the CD a disturbed look. "Umm..."

By now, even Sandor was curious, and he put aside his now empty mug of eggnog to readjust Sansa's position between his outstretched legs for a better look at the gift. "Well, spit it out."

"It's...Limp Bizkit's...Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water..."

There was a moment of dead silence broken only by the soft padding of cat feet as Bradbury and Ravage rejoined their respective owners.

Sandor squinted at Shockwave in suspicion. "Have I been drinking too much, or did you really just say what I think you did?"

"Both." Sansa muttered.

Shockwave gave Drogo a flat stare. "I don't believe you did me a favor after all."

Dany smiled and leaned her head against her fiancé's shoulder. "No, but you did me one." Electra nodded in understanding.

Rumble reached out and Shockwave handed over the CD. "Boss...I think you should look at the case next time."

Soundwave nodded miserably. _'I know.'_

When another brief silence fell over the group, Vibes cleared her throat and looked toward the next person. "Your turn, Sandy."

Seeing as only two gifts remained, one of which was his, he didn't have much of a choice and leaned over his girlfriend to get the neatly wrapped blue one from Electra.

"Of all the people to choose mine..." she said, shaking her head.

Sandor frowned at her. "That's not exactly reassuring." Electra just shrugged and left him to open it.

"It's...a book."

Karmen raised her eyebrows and looked over at the Scotsman. "I think you may have been insulted then."

He shook his head. "No, I get her reasoning. It's a book of European castles."

Electra nodded. "I was hoping that neither you or Shockwave would get it, since, well, you're both from Europe."

"I spent most of my time in the British Isles, so I actually haven't seen many castles in continental Europe. This is fine. It'll give me something to read next time I get deployed."

Shockwave received a look from his girlfriend and he blinked. "I wasn't aware of what you wished to know."

"Marines," Sansa replied in answer to the unspoken question. Electra nodded her thanks and offered a hand to smell when Ravage walked over to her.

Karmen sighed tiredly then smiled at Sansa. "Go ahead."

They all looked toward the middle of the circle and Vibes smiled. "Alright Sansa, tough choice..."

She laughed and scooted forward to grab the only box left, frowning slightly as she looked at it. "Wait a minute, didn't we bring this one?"

Sandor nodded and pulled her back against him, nudging the gift toward her with his foot. "Yeah, but it was mine, and you never saw it, and it's not just some piece of shit from under our bed, so you can still open it."

Sansa swatted his arm when he cursed but nodded regardless and looked for a good place to start undoing the paper. "Sweetheart, I think you need some wrapping lessons."

He shrugged. "I have better things to do. Like—"

Slapping a hand over his mouth, she gave him a warning look and replied flatly, "If you don't stop talking, that won't be the case anymore." His protests died quickly.

Facing the present again, she opted for ripping off the paper then opened the box and frowned, pulling a smaller box out of it. "Umm..."

"Yeah, so I had a bunch of boxes lying around the apartment...figured I should use 'em."

Sansa shook her head and unwrapped the box now in her hands, lifting yet another one out of it when the mess of tape and paper had been removed. "Sandor, really. This is excessive."

"There's only two more. Just keep going."

As Sansa went for the next couple of boxes, Sandor grew visibly more agitated and Karmen and Dany both shot him reassuring looks while the twins jittered excitedly at having being let in on a secret.

Reaching the last one, Sansa sighed and took out a surprisingly delicately wrapped and very small box, opening it after a brief moment of hesitation and gasping quietly when she saw what was inside. Nestled on a small square of black velvet was a simple, but pretty diamond ring with Sandor's handwriting scrawled across the top of the box in a barely legible, 'will you marry me?'

There was a moment of complete silence before she slowly turned and looked up at her boyfriend. "Sandor..."

A rare blush crept up to his unburnt cheek and he gave her a crooked smile. "So, how about it, little bird?"

She stared at him for a moment then placed a hand against the burned side of his face and kissed him, her blue eyes wet with tears. "Yes. Of course I will."

The others made appropriate sounds of adoration as Sandor slid the ring on Sansa's finger and murmured a quiet, "I love you," against her lips. The twins both rolled their eyes.

When the couple broke apart, they were both blushing (as was Soundwave) and Sandor smirked. "The rest of your gift is already here, but you'll have to unwrap it at home..."

Sansa's blush deepened and she said something quietly to Sandor, absentmindedly playing with the top button of his dress shirt and receiving a low chuckle from her now fiancé. Soundwave turned an even brighter shade of red.

"Did you all know about this?" Sansa asked quietly as she turned back to face the circle.

Vibes nodded and smiled. "Sandy had to make sure that none of us picked his gift. That could've gotten awkward."

Sandor snorted and Dany looked over at her best friend. "Merry Christmas."

Smiling shyly, she nodded and laced her fingers through Sandor's. "Thank you. At least now we can get married before I have the baby."

Shockwave met Electra's disapproving glance with a flat stare and a rather obvious, "She's pregnant."

A lengthy, but not uncomfortable silence followed and was broken when Rumble got up and bounded toward the window. "Ma, could we have a snowball fight?"

Karmen looked over toward her son and sighed heavily. "Rumble, we had a snowball fight the last time they were all over. Don't you think it might get a bit repetitive?"

Vibes chuckled and got to her feet, pulling Soundwave up after her. "It's alright Karmen. I don't mind if the others don't. I'm always up for a battle with my future nephews-in-law."

Soundwave blushed.

"Are you getting married too, Boss?"

_'Not that I know of...'_

"Not yet," Vibes said cheerfully, pulling on her coat and taking her scarf from her boyfriend. "But that doesn't mean it won't happen; right Soundwave?"

He cleverly chose that moment to go retrieve his own coat from the front closet.

"I'll join in the fight," Electra offered, standing up and tugging on one of Shockwave's 'antlers' in a gesture to urge him to do the same. "Since I wasn't here last time."

The others all agreed to join as well and even Karmen acquiesced, allowing the twins to drag her outside and send her to the opposite side of the yard.

Once everyone was properly bundled and had been ushered outside, teams were decided (by the twins) and the women quickly found themselves in what seemed to be the most unfair snowball fight of their lives.

Over by the trees stood team one, comprised of the twins, Drogo, Sandor, Shockwave, and Soundwave. Their opponents were Dany, Electra, Karmen, Sansa, and Vibes.

"This isn't fair!" Dany complained, to which Drogo yelled back, "Come on, like all of you haven't wished you could have the chance to throw snow at us!"

Electra laughed. "He does have a point..."

Frenzy stood up on a small pile of snow and shouted across the yard. "On the count of three!"

Everyone armed themselves and ran for what little cover the bare trees and occasional bush provided.

"One,"

Shockwave positioned himself at an angle and squinted in concentration at his enemies.

"Two,"

Rumble scurried up into one of the trees and whistled to Sandor who tossed him a well-packed snowball.

"Three!"

All hell broke loose.

"Karmen, I'm on your team!"

"Holy crap, Shockwave's lethal even with a handful of snow!"

"Well, what did you expect, he's a sniper."

"Rumble, don't you dare hit your mother!"

"He's a _what?!_"

When there was a brief cease-fire in order to reload on ammunition, Frenzy called his team into a loose huddle and discussed a plan of attack, ordering Drogo and Sandor to charge while Shockwave, Soundwave, and Rumble took out anyone who was left standing.

As the first snowballs from the other side began to fly, he raised his fist in the air and gave the command. "CHARGE!"

In retrospect, sending the two tallest men probably wasn't the best idea seeing as they made easier targets, but Frenzy prided himself on making them moving targets. And they did succeed in bringing the number down to three.

As Drogo lifted Dany off the ground and effortlessly hefted her over his shoulder, Sandor took Sansa down in a clumsy but not ungentle tackle, getting momentarily distracted upon finding himself on top of his fiancée in the snow.

The remaining seven met halfway across the yard and found themselves in a tangle of limbs and flying snow, the twins attacking their mother as Shockwave and Soundwave found themselves in single combat with their respective girlfriends.

There was a brief, few minute scuffle before Rumble emerged from the man-made blizzard and sounded the victory cry for his own team. Shockwave had managed to seat himself on Electra's stomach to keep her on the ground while the twins pinned down Karmen; on the other side, Drogo had yet to set his fiancée down again, and Sandor still had Sansa trapped beneath him, though she didn't seem to mind. Soundwave unfortunately found himself face-first in the snow with Vibes triumphantly pinning his arms behind his back.

Once the victors had officially been declared by the losing team, Dany and Drogo returned to the group with Sandor and Sansa following behind after a brief moment of hesitation. Sandor didn't actually get what he'd required in order to let Sansa get back up; just a smack upside the head.

After brushing off the snow from their clothes at Karmen's command, they all made their way back into the living room and settled on various couches to re-warm themselves. Soundwave and Vibes settled on one end of the couch while Sandor and Sansa curled up on the other, Frenzy and Rumble joined Dany and Drogo on the floor, Electra sat down in Shockwave's lap in the armchair beside the couch and Karmen began clearing away all the mugs and empty drink containers.

A comfortable silence followed as Ravage and Bradbury weaved their way through all the guests in order to settle down in the space between the two couples on the couch.

"This was the best Christmas Eve I've had in a long time."

The others looked up in surprise when they realized it was Sandor who had spoken and he shrugged in response to the quizzical glances.

"Spending them with Gregor was never something I looked forward to, spending it alone always sucked, and sure, staying home with Sansa's great, but..." he shrugged again. "I dunno."

Sansa smiled and trailed her finger along the arm he had wrapped around her waist. "Is the Christmas spirit getting to you?" She teased quietly.

Sandor snorted. "The only 'Christmas spirit' I've enjoyed is the eggnog."

Everyone with the exception of Shockwave laughed and Electra nodded in response to his initial statement. "Yeah. I had a lot of fun tonight. I never would've guessed that Shocks had such entertaining...acquaintances." She shot her boyfriend a playful smirk.

"I've never seen the point of such a frivolous holiday," Shockwave stated. "But on occasion, the camaraderie is marginally appreciated."

Vibes smiled and raised her newly refilled mug of eggnog. "Merry Christmas everyone."

_"Merry Christmas."_


End file.
